After about 5 years use , and unfailing reliability , a couple of weeks back ( just after I'd commented to someone else on here how reliable it was ) my roof decided to stop part way through its cycle .
All sorts of horrors went through my mind , not least the roof controller . as I'd had the battery out of the car whilst changing the fuel tank .
From the fully closed position , the windows would drop , the rear bow would lift , and then the tonneau would unlatch and come up about an inch , but no further . If I lifted the tonneau manually then the front end would unlatch , but I'd then have to drop the roof manually into the well , after which the tonneau would close and latch shut .
With the tonneau up and bow lifted , I looked at the various locks I could see , all were somewhat dirty and dry , so I gave them a good greasing and worked each back and forth until they moved freely ; also looked at the microswitches and gave each a good spraying in round about the buttons with Servisol switch cleaner - still no joy . Reset window limits , no difference . Left window with non original glass has always been slower than the other one , and reluctant to fully close ; at some point I will get a genuine piece of glass and swap regulator at same time .
Also had back seat out and unplugged connectors from roof controller , a good spraying of switch cleaner and worked the connectors in and out before leaving back in .
Thought it might be linked to me having the tank out , so undid the boot trim and looked for anything amiss , particularly around the lock next to the filler neck , even opened up and resoldered the pins inside the connectors .
While I had everything out of the boot , I took the spare wheel out and changed the fluid ( I still had a couple of bottles of ZHM from my time with estate cars ) ; noted the little relay on the motor unit , as I recall that can give trouble , but reasoned this was unlikely as it would cause the roof not to operate at all .
At this point I got out my trusty AVO 8 and started metering across all the switches , all of which proved to be changing state ...
Downloaded info re fault codes ; my car has the older OBD1 16 pin terminal , but I had the pin assignment and blink codes now ; didn't have a blink code reader , but again said AVO 8 sufficed by setting to voltage and counting kicks of the needle .
There were numerous codes , but after clearing them , the persistent one on pin 10 ( roadster soft top ) was code 7 , pointing to limit switches rear right lock . Concentrated attention here again , still everything appeared fine .
Thinking logically , things were falling apart after the bow got to the raised position , so I looked at the switch which communicated this ; the one on top of the bow raise ram ; it was adjustable , moved it slightly , gave it a good dose of switch cleaner , pressed and released the actuating flap , metered the state change at the connector ... all appeared good , still the fault persisted . I noted this limit switch is rear left only on my car ( RHD ) , but that LHD cars have it on the other side .... I wondered .
Fault still persisted , got pig sick of it and just left it for a week or two .
Nice Sunday afternoon today , so went back out . Again with the manual roof tool worked each of the locks back and forth , all now moving really easily thanks to liberal greasing a couple of weeks back . Checked fault codes , still showing no 7 . Gave all four rear locks a good working back and forth with spanner . Tweaked bow up and bow down limit switches , both of which are adjustable .
Not really sure what I did , but it just started working again ...
Raised and lowered roof a dozen times on the drive , no failures , took car for a drive to shake things around , on return still working .
I think something had either got stuck or out of adjustment , but either way it pays to persevere .
I can't help thinking that if I'd gone to a garage they'd have just thrown a roof controller and other parts at it , then raped my wallet for a load of labour charges to boot .
All it took was a bit of basic electrical/mechanical knowledge , the ability to read fault codes , and a good dose of patience and perseverance .
Hope this encourages others .
All sorts of horrors went through my mind , not least the roof controller . as I'd had the battery out of the car whilst changing the fuel tank .
From the fully closed position , the windows would drop , the rear bow would lift , and then the tonneau would unlatch and come up about an inch , but no further . If I lifted the tonneau manually then the front end would unlatch , but I'd then have to drop the roof manually into the well , after which the tonneau would close and latch shut .
With the tonneau up and bow lifted , I looked at the various locks I could see , all were somewhat dirty and dry , so I gave them a good greasing and worked each back and forth until they moved freely ; also looked at the microswitches and gave each a good spraying in round about the buttons with Servisol switch cleaner - still no joy . Reset window limits , no difference . Left window with non original glass has always been slower than the other one , and reluctant to fully close ; at some point I will get a genuine piece of glass and swap regulator at same time .
Also had back seat out and unplugged connectors from roof controller , a good spraying of switch cleaner and worked the connectors in and out before leaving back in .
Thought it might be linked to me having the tank out , so undid the boot trim and looked for anything amiss , particularly around the lock next to the filler neck , even opened up and resoldered the pins inside the connectors .
While I had everything out of the boot , I took the spare wheel out and changed the fluid ( I still had a couple of bottles of ZHM from my time with estate cars ) ; noted the little relay on the motor unit , as I recall that can give trouble , but reasoned this was unlikely as it would cause the roof not to operate at all .
At this point I got out my trusty AVO 8 and started metering across all the switches , all of which proved to be changing state ...
Downloaded info re fault codes ; my car has the older OBD1 16 pin terminal , but I had the pin assignment and blink codes now ; didn't have a blink code reader , but again said AVO 8 sufficed by setting to voltage and counting kicks of the needle .
There were numerous codes , but after clearing them , the persistent one on pin 10 ( roadster soft top ) was code 7 , pointing to limit switches rear right lock . Concentrated attention here again , still everything appeared fine .
Thinking logically , things were falling apart after the bow got to the raised position , so I looked at the switch which communicated this ; the one on top of the bow raise ram ; it was adjustable , moved it slightly , gave it a good dose of switch cleaner , pressed and released the actuating flap , metered the state change at the connector ... all appeared good , still the fault persisted . I noted this limit switch is rear left only on my car ( RHD ) , but that LHD cars have it on the other side .... I wondered .
Fault still persisted , got pig sick of it and just left it for a week or two .
Nice Sunday afternoon today , so went back out . Again with the manual roof tool worked each of the locks back and forth , all now moving really easily thanks to liberal greasing a couple of weeks back . Checked fault codes , still showing no 7 . Gave all four rear locks a good working back and forth with spanner . Tweaked bow up and bow down limit switches , both of which are adjustable .
Not really sure what I did , but it just started working again ...
Raised and lowered roof a dozen times on the drive , no failures , took car for a drive to shake things around , on return still working .
I think something had either got stuck or out of adjustment , but either way it pays to persevere .
I can't help thinking that if I'd gone to a garage they'd have just thrown a roof controller and other parts at it , then raped my wallet for a load of labour charges to boot .
All it took was a bit of basic electrical/mechanical knowledge , the ability to read fault codes , and a good dose of patience and perseverance .
Hope this encourages others .
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